The star of BBC One’s new police thriller The Jetty is one of a number of famous faces in the latest issue.

By Shem Law

Published: Tuesday, 09 July 2024 at 12:54 PM


Jenna Coleman is fast becoming one of the best actors of her generation. After stints on Emmerdale and Waterloo Road, she made her mark as Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi’s travelling companion Clara in Doctor Who. But at RT we first noticed her in Stephen Poliakoff ’s Jazz Age drama Dancing on the Edge. Her assured performance in that has propelled her into lead roles in many successful series.

Now she heads up this week’s special issue of Radio Times dedicated to detectives as the star of the new BBC One police thriller The Jetty. In the magazine, she tells us about starting out in the soaps and how hard she found it to get noticed in a notoriously fickle industry.

We also have other treats if you love a whodunit. From the return of Bath’s own McDonald & Dodds to the private eye and chef in Whitstable Pearl on the Kent coast, we have something for all tastes. And don’t forget that BBC Four is delving into the archives and reshowing classic first episodes from six decades of crime dramas.

Elsewhere we tell the fascinating story of how scientists have produced the first viable malaria vaccine and, for the Wimbledon final, there’s a look at how Hawk-Eye technology changed tennis and relegated the line-call tantrums of John McEnroe to history…

However, it’s only fitting to leave the last word to Midsomer Murders star Neil Dudgeon. When we asked him what he thinks is the secret of the show’s success he said, “Underneath the reserve of strait-laced English village life you have these seething torments of betrayal, lust, murder and theft”. Most of the shows we feature in this week’s issue follow that formula. Long may we keep watching the detectives…

The latest Radio Times magazine is out now – subscribe here.

Also in this week’s Radio Times: